Grant allows economic growth

TICONDEROGA The construction of a new hotel on Burgoyne Avenue is having an impact on Hague Road businesses. This is an example of how business development helps the entire community, Ticonderoga Supervisor Bob Dedrick said. This is really goods news. The news is that Ti has received a $750,000 state grant that will pay for improvements to an ailing sewer district and construction of another one across town. The new Best Western hotel on Burgoyne Avenue is located in the Park Avenue sewer district, Dedrick explained. That district, though, is incapable of handling the increased volume to be generated by the hotel because of construction flaws that have plagued the system for 30 years. We (town officials) were in a panic, Dedrick said. Best Western has a legal right to hook to that sewer, but we just couldnt do it. At the same time, businesses and residents of the Hague Road area petitioned the town to form a sewer district there. A feasibility study, though, showed the cost of a new district on Hague Road would be prohibitive. Although the two districts are separate, town officials decided to seek a joint state grant. Each area met grant criteria 51 percent of the residents are low- and moderate-income and new and retained jobs in each area will go to low- and moderate-income employees. Dedrick said the $750,000 announced by Gov. Paterson will completely pay for improvements to the existing Park Avenue sewer district and the construction of a Hague Road sewer district. Both sewer projects are expected to be completed this year, Dedrick said. Until completion, the Best Western is being served by a temporary, dedicated sewer line that bypasses the Park Avenue district. Best Western is investing $5.5 million in Ticonderoga and creating 19 new jobs. The Hague Road project will also retain 28 jobs at existing businesses, according to the governors office. Businesses like Best Western help keep local property taxes in check, Dedrick said, by adding assessed value to the tax rolls and generating sales tax. The Ti supervisor credited Jody Olcott and Carole Calabrese, co executive directors of the Essex County Industrial Development Agency, with securing the grant. They had a hand in the entire process, from A to Z, Dedrick said. Theres a tremendous partnership between the town of Ticonderoga and the Industrial Development Agency. Updated infrastructure, like water and sewer service, is key to attracting business, the supervisor noted. He pointed to development in the Route 9N and 74 area since sewer lines were installed there. I get calls a couple of times a week from businesses that are interested in that area, Dedrick said. Ticonderogas grant is part of a state grant program designed to create upstate jobs. Paterson has announced six grants totaling $5.5 million aimed at creating more than 1,000 new jobs during the next three years in upstate New York. Nearly $3.8 million of the grants was federal money and about $1.7 million came from the Empire State Development Corporation. Most of the new jobs will be available to low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. Other projects were funded in Green Island, Lockport, Erwin, Olean and Montgomery County.